Ilia Topuria ruled out of title fight eliminator in lightweight debut: ‘He wants a championship fight’
Soon-to-be former featherweight champion, Ilia Topuria has been ruled out of a title eliminator at the lightweight limit in his eventual divisional debut — with his team claiming it’s immediate title fight for undisputed gold or bust for the finisher from the get-go.
Topuria, who is set to vacate the undisputed featherweight championship, will see the title up for grabs at UFC 314, with former-foe, Alexander Volkanovski set to take on surging Brazilian challenger, Diego Lopes in a showdown for the crown as soon as April.
And linked with a massive lightweight title siege in the immediate aftermath of the confirmation of his divisional move, according to reports last week, the Georgian-Spaniard has been linked with a spectacular debut at UFC 317 this summer against pound-for-pound number one, Islam Makhachev.
However, over the course of the weekend, the lightweight champion’s Russian manager claimed Ilia Topuria should be forced into a title eliminator first at the lightweight limit — suggesting he take on former undisputed champion, Charles Oliveira first and foremost.
“Topuria vs Dustin/Charles contender fight, to prove he’s legit lightweight,” Rizvan Magomedov posted on his X account. “So we don’t have to defeat another ‘small featherweight’ We need big fight that make sense for everyone. We already gave chances to featherweight champ that was reigning for long time.”
However, during an interview with TASS, Topuria’s team played down the need for a title eliminator in his lightweight debut, claiming he is solely focused on a title charge against Topuria immediately.
Ilia Topuria hopeful of immediate title fight at Islam Makhachev this year
“Ilia (Topuria) wants a championship fight. He will not fight for the status of a contender with (Arman) Tsarukyan or anyone else.”
